Question about London and Manchester trains

[AquamarineSteph]

Hello!

First of all, I'm from the USA so I don't meant to barge into this part of the forum except that I have a question that I'm hoping someone here may be able to answer.

My other half and I are thinking about doing a tour of London. That's not the issue, but it is our starting point. From there, we want to visit Manchester because my other half's grandmother was born there. I doubt the house still exists, but we have the census records and would love to see whatever exists on that property now.

My question is this - to go from London to Manchester, it appears that you can take a train? I read on the train website that you can take luggage with you, but I'm not sure how that works? Is it like traveling on a bus where the luggage goes somewhere else? Or do you sit with your luggage nearby? And is there one train from London to Manchester or multiple options?

SORRY for what may seem like silly questions, but in my part of the US we don't have a lot of mass transport options so this is all new to me. Thank you in advance for any replies.

 

[Chilly]

Yes there will be multiple options for London to Manchester, either direct or needing to change trains (normally cheaper). In each train carriage there will be luggage racks at the ends near the doors for large suitcases and normally a shelf over the seats for cabin sized bags or smaller.

 

[A Small World]

I get the train between London and Manchester quite regularly (I live close to Manchester) . Trains are approx every 20 minutes from London Euston station to Manchester piccadilly station and will take about 2 hrs.
You can just walk up and buy a ticket but is cheaper to book in advance - you can often get cheap advance fares which are available I think 12 weeks in advance. Try looking at different times for travel as sometimes you can get cheaper options mid day . Its not usually worth looking for one which requires a change on that route as they are high speed trains which don't stop very often between the 2 stations. You can also book a seat reservation for no extra cost

I use this website to book
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk
or https://www.thetrainline.com

As already said you have luggage racks to store your luggage but there is not very much space so you need to try and get on quite fast if you have a lot of luggage to store

 

[AquamarineSteph]

Thank you for the replies! I really appreciate it!

 

[BadPinkTink]

Some great advice from PP. I am from Ireland and I use https://www.thetrainline.com for train travel in the UK. Its really easy to use, just put in your starting point and your destination and you will be given a range of options, different times and fares. I usually travel after 9am as fares are cheaper. I book online about 4 to 6 weeks before travel. I book tickets using a credit card and get an email confirmation. I select the option to collect tickets at the station. You can collect tickets either at the self service machines or with the person at the ticket desk. To collect tickets at the self service machine, you select ticket collection, put the card used to buy the tickets into the machine and put in your confirmation number. You might need a chip and pin card for this. If thats too complicated, just go to the person at the ticket desk and show your confirmation email.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

Thanks for the information about the tickets as well!

 

[Nick Taylor]

If you are looking for a particular address, I would check google's streetview. That will at least let you see if the house is still there!

 

[Wakey]

Euston to Manchester every half hour or so. 2 hour trip approx. Train station is bang in city centre of Manchester (Picadilly Station). You may from Manchester also enjoy a trip to Leeds (1 hour about 20 dollars return, great City Centre ) and also York (near Leeds) where I would definitely recommend you go to see the history. York was in the past often the administrative seat of UK Government and royalty including the Platagenet dynasty and has some amazing old buildings, museums and a great cathedral. They chopped off Richard of Yorks head at Sandal Castle Wakefield (Grand Old Duke of York nursery rhyme) and stuck it on a spike with a paper crown on the gates of York (all still there including the wall) during the War of the Roses (inspiration for Game of Thrones) which changed British and probably world history. Know the phrase 'it's a shambles'? Shambles comes from a street name in York with 14th Century buildings leaning together so they almost touch. York Dungeon very good as is railway museum and Castle Museum.

 

[jeffbear]

FWIW, just back from two weeks in the UK and my family of four and our baggage traveled by train to Liverpool and back to London for a long weekend visit. Couple of thoughts from an American visitor's point of view:

1. Book ahead. It's relatively easy and can be done online at www.britrail.com The site is a bit clunky but does work if you hang in there. There's also phone support in the US during normal business hours ... but not on weekends. You'll get an email confirmation with a booking ID an then enter that into a kiosk at the station to get your printed tickets on the day you travel. All pretty slick and easy. As mentioned you can generally get tickets on the day, but why risk some unforeseen rush or whatever.

2. Luggage handling is on you, so think through how it's going to work for your group. We had big fat American two weeks worth of clothes luggage and we were heading to Liverpool for a 3 day weekend, so I had our bunch compress their stuff down into their backpacks and we checked our big bags with Left Luggage at Euston station. It costs a bit to go that way but after schlepping all that gear through the Underground one time, I was convinced it was the right call. If you decide to bring the baggage on the train, there's room at one end of the carriages in addition to smaller storage areas in the middle of the rows. Again, big fat American sized suitcases are an issue so you're probably looking for room at the end of the carriage. Make sure you're not running too late for departure and you should be fine. Again, it's not the old days with luggage porters and designated luggage cars and whatnot ... you're on your own handling your bags, so think and plan accordingly.

3. It's really quite nice and easy. You may or may not get a ton of notice from the station information boards about what platform your train will be loading on, so know that it advance if you have any anxious travelers. But once you get the luggage sorted and get underway it's quite a nice 2 hour-ish ride to the North. There will all but certainly be food and beverage service available on the train or you can easily grab something at the station.

And for the record ... Liverpool has joined my list of favorite places to visit.